Fire safety in care homes: what installers and inspectors should know

Most fire strategies assume people will leave the building when the alarm goes. In a care home, many residents can't. Some are in bed, some need two staff to move, and some won't understand what the alarm means. The building has to buy time while a small night team moves people to safety.

That puts the fire protection under more pressure than almost anywhere else. If you install, inspect or service it, here's what's different.

Residents move sideways, not out

Most care homes plan to move residents through a set of fire doors into the next compartment, rather than down the stairs and out. The government's guide for residential care premises calls this progressive horizontal evacuation.

It only works if the compartment walls and the doors in them hold. A gap in the fire stopping above a ceiling, or a cross-corridor door that doesn't close, can undo the whole plan. Treat every penetration through a compartment line as important, because it is.

Doors that are held open

Residents need clear routes, and heavy self-closing doors are hard work for anyone with a walking frame or a wheelchair. So many care home doors are held open on magnetic devices, or fitted with free-swing closers, and released when the fire alarm sounds.

• Every device has to release on alarm. Check them at the weekly alarm test, not only at the annual service.
• Once released, the door still has to close fully onto its latch or stop. A free-swing closer set too soft lets the door drift and stop short.
• Wedges and furniture against doors are still common. Note them every time.

Detection and alarms

Care homes normally have automatic fire detection throughout, because early warning gives staff more time. Engineers need to understand the cause and effect: which zones release which doors, what goes to the alarm receiving centre, and what staff see on the panel.

False alarms matter too. Every evacuation of frail residents carries its own risk, so a detector in the wrong place, or a fault left open for weeks, isn't a minor issue.

Working in a home that never closes

Residents are there day and night. Isolating a zone, taking a door off to repair it or cutting a hole for new services needs a permit, a plan for the time the protection is out, and someone who signs it back into service. Leave the building as protected as you found it, every day.

What inspectors look for

The Care Quality Commission inspects care homes on safety, and fire and rescue services audit them under the Fire Safety Order. Both expect records that are dated, specific and show faults being fixed. A tidy logbook backed by trained people is the strongest evidence a provider has.

This article is a summary for people who work on fire safety in buildings. It isn't legal advice. For the full requirements, read the legislation and official guidance it mentions.